BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) collects information from victims on nonfatal violent and property crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. It produces national rates and levels of personal and property victimization.

  • Violent crimes measured include rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault.
  • Property crimes include burglary/trespassing, motor-vehicle theft, and other types of theft.

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Data Collections & Surveys

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Publications & Products


Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2018 - Statistical Tables This report is the twelfth in a series that began in 1996. It examines the nature and frequency of residents' contact with police by residents' demographic characteristics, types of contact, perceptions of police behaviors, and police threats or use of nonfatal force.
  Full report (PDF 675K) | Data tables (Zip format 14K)
Part of the Contacts between Police and the Public Series

Violent Victimization by Race or Ethnicity, 2005-2019 This report provides official estimates of criminal victimizations from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey. It provides the rate and number of violent victimizations from 2005 to 2019 by victim race or ethnicity.
  Full report (PDF 310K) | Data tables (Zip format 5K)

Criminal Victimization, 2019 This report is the 47th in a series that began in 1973. It provides official estimates of criminal victimizations reported and not reported to police from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey.
  Press Release (30K) | Summary (PDF 197K) | Full report (PDF 1.4K) | Data tables (Zip format 78K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2019 This report is the 22nd in a series of annual publications produced jointly by BJS and the National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, in the Department of Education.
  Full report (PDF 6M) | Tables (available at NCES) (Other)
Part of the Indicators of School Crime and Safety Series

Selected Findings from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program This report presents statistics on crimes known to law enforcement that were voluntarily reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
  Full report (PDF 523K) | Data tables (Zip format 12K)

Victim Service Providers in the United States, 2017 This report provides statistics from the National Census of Victim Service Providers (VSPs), the first national data collection on the number and characteristics of these organizations.
  Full report (PDF 784K) | Data tables (Zip format 5K)

Criminal Victimization, 2018 This report is the 46th in a series that began in 1973. It provides official estimates of criminal victimizations reported and not reported to police from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey.
  Press Release (199K) | Summary (PDF 480K) | Full report (PDF 730K) | Data tables (Zip format 49K) | Supplemental Tables (PDF 100K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2018 This annual report, produced jointly by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, presents data on school crime and safety from national surveys of students, teachers, principals, and postsecondary institutions.
  Full report (PDF 4.9M)
Part of the Indicators of School Crime and Safety Series

Victims of Identity Theft, 2016 Presents data on the prevalence and nature of identity theft against persons age 16 or older in 2016, including how victims discovered the crime; financial losses and other consequences.
  Summary (PDF 164K) | Full report (PDF 552K) | Data tables (Zip format 98K)
Part of the Identity Theft Series

Criminal Victimization, 2017 Provides 2017 National Crime Victimization Survey data on violent and property crime victimizations reported and not reported to police and the annual change in criminal victimization from 2016.
  Press Release (198K) | Summary (PDF 193K) | Full report (PDF 620K) | Data tables (Zip format 39K)
Part of the Criminal Victimization Series

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Terms & Definitions

Age category The appropriate age category is determined by the respondent's age on the last day of the month preceding the interview.
 
Aggravated assault An attack or attempted attack with a weapon, regardless of whether an injury occurred, and an attack without a weapon when serious injury results.
With injury - An attack without a weapon when serious injury results or an attack with a weapon involving any injury. Serious injury includes broken bones, lost teeth, internal injuries, loss of consciousness, and any unspecified injury requiring two or more days of hospitalization.

Threatened with a weapon - Threat or attempted attack by an offender armed with a gun, knife, or other object used as a weapon that does not result in victim injury.
 
Annual household income The total household income for the 12 months preceding the interview. Includes wages, salaries, net income from businesses or farms, pensions, interest, dividends, rent, and any other source of monetary income of the head of household and all household members.
 
Assault An unlawful physical attack or threat of attack. Assaults may be classified as aggravated or simple. Rape, attempted rape, and sexual assaults are excluded from this category, as well as robbery and attempted robbery. The severity of assaults ranges from minor threats to nearly fatal incidents.
 
Collection year The set of victimizations reported to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) in interviews conducted during the same calendar year. This set may include victimizations that occurred in the previous calendar year, due to the retrospective nature of the NCVS interview. Collection year data are used in tables beginning in 1996. See "Data year."
 
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